As databases architectures have grown more and more sophisticated and client demand for services has increased, the need to provide more and more processing power has grown. In conventional systems additional processing power has been achieved through vertical scaling of the systems that implement, for example, database services. An example of vertical scaling typically involves adding more processors in a multiprocessor system, providing additional processing capacity for servicing, for example, client requests. However, such an approach is typically expensive, and as the necessary processing capacity increases, the cost to further increase capacity can grow exponentially.